SINGLE OUT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does single out mean? 

• SINGLE OUT (verb)
  The verb SINGLE OUT has 2 senses:

1. select from a group

2. treat differently on the basis of sex or race

  Familiarity information: SINGLE OUT used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SINGLE OUT (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Select from a group

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Context example:

She was singled out for her outstanding performance

Hypernyms (to "single out" is one way to...):

choose; pick out; select; take (pick out, select, or choose from a number of alternatives)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

They single out him to write the letter

Sense 2

Meaning:

Treat differently on the basis of sex or race

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

discriminate; separate; single out

Hypernyms (to "single out" is one way to...):

differentiate; distinguish; secern; secernate; separate; severalise; severalize; tell; tell apart (mark as different)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "single out"):

insulate; isolate (place or set apart)

hive off (remove from a group and make separate)

segregate (separate by race or religion; practice a policy of racial segregation)

redline (discriminate in selling or renting housing in certain areas of a neighborhood)

disadvantage; disfavor; disfavour (put at a disadvantage; hinder, harm)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

 Context examples 

Both you and the coroner have been at some pains, said he, to single out the very strongest points in the young man’s favour.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"My first view of it shall be in front," I determined, where its bold battlements will strike the eye nobly at once, and where I can single out my master's very window: perhaps he will be standing at it—he rises early: perhaps he is now walking in the orchard, or on the pavement in front.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)